Reading Presently

thanks to Agnieszka for making the badge!

This will be the page for 2013’s project, where I’ll list my 50 Reading Presently books – books that were given to me as presents, along with their givers.  I will never use the word ‘gifted’ as a verb, or ‘gifting’ at all.  *Shudder*

1. Moranthology by Caitlin Moran – from my brother Colin
2. The Young Ardizzone by Edward Ardizonne – from Verity
3. What There Is To Say We Have Said : Eudora Welty & William Maxwell – from blog-reader Heather
4. The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield – from Thomas
5. House of Silence by Linda Gillard – from Linda
6. A Spy in the Bookshop ed. John Saumarez Smith – from Lucy
7. Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus – from Verity
8. Is It Just Me? by Miranda Hart – from Lucy
9. How The Heather Looks by Joan Bodger – from Clare, maybe??
10. Room at the Top by John Braine – from John H.
11. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn – from Ruth
12. The Easter Party by Vita Sackville-West – from Hayley
13. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright – from Nichola
14. Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi – from Our Vicar and Our Vicar’s Wife
15. Bassett by Stella Gibbons – from Barbara
16. The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel – from Colin
17. The Help by Kathryn Stockett – from dovegreybooks reading group
18. Four Hedges by Clare Leighton – from Clare
19. Books, Baguettes, and Bedbugs by Jeremy Mercer – from Charley
20. Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym – from Mum
21. Virginia Woolf by Winifred Holtby – from Lucy
22. Of Love and Hunger by Julian Maclaren-Ross – from Dee
23. Oxford by Edward Thomas – from Daphne
24. Young Entry by Molly Keane – from Karyn
25. Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie – from Fiona
26. The Flying Draper by Ronald Fraser – from Tanya
27. A House in Flanders by Michael Jenkins – from Carol
28. The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills – from Mel
29. The Queen and I by Sue Townsend – from OUP colleagues
30. Mr. Skeffington by Elizabeth von Arnim – from Rachel
31. Six Fools and a Fairy by Mary Essex – from Jodie
32. Cullum by E. Arnot Robertson – from Clare
33. Symposium by Muriel Spark – from Karen
34. Beowulf on the Beach by Jack Murnighan – from Colin
35. Pink Sugar by O. Douglas – from Clare
36. Time Will Darken It by William Maxwell – from Barbara
37. Hetty Dorval by Ethel Wilson – from Becca
38. Phantoms on the Bookshelves by Jacques Bonnet – from Clare
39. Faulks on Fiction by Sebastian Faulks – from Mum and Dad
40. The Compleat Mrs. Elton by Diana Birchall – from Diana
41. The Underground River by Edith Olivier – from Jane
42. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris – from Laura
43. A Reader on Reading by Alberto Manguel – from Lorna
44. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh – from Colin
45. My Grandfather and Father, Dear Father by Denis Constanduros – from Mum and Dad
46. The Best of Archy and Mehitabel by Don Marquis – from Barbara
47. Ten Days of Christmas by G.B. Stern – from Verity
48. Together and Apart from Margaret Kennedy – from Rob
49. Midsummer Night at the Workhouse by Diana Athill – from Mum
50. Black Sheep by Susan Hill – from Colin

11 thoughts on “Reading Presently

  • January 3, 2013 at 3:24 am
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    Simon, if it's OK I'm planning to link to this whenever I review a book received as a gift (I agree with you about "gifted" in that sense!).

    Reply
  • January 3, 2013 at 8:11 pm
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    I think this is such a lovely project Simon – I could probably do this along with you if I was inclined to limit myself as so many people have kindly given me books recently (and not so recently!) Good luck with the project!

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    • January 8, 2013 at 12:05 pm
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      Thanks! I'm excited about it – and wondering why I haven't read all these wonderful presents already!

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  • January 4, 2013 at 9:33 am
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    I really like the idea behind this project. I seem to have the bad habit that I often leave books I received as gifts lying around the longest, without picking them up to read. You might have inspired me to give them a little more attention.

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    • January 8, 2013 at 12:05 pm
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      I know! I have left some for years and years – I shall purge my guilt this year!

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  • January 4, 2013 at 5:06 pm
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    You are brave to do this! Best of luck — and a happy new year to you!

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  • January 4, 2013 at 5:57 pm
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    Well, you are off to a good start with this project: one down and a great review!

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  • January 8, 2013 at 9:53 pm
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    Now this is really interesting to me as I rarely give others books and they rarely give one to me. Book choices are so personal and I know that they differ from many of my friends. So, do you give books knowing the subjects they would choose for themselves or, do you try to introduce them to a different genre? I love a good weep – and end up feeling uplifted, grateful that I am not in the position of a particular character! – whereas others find such books depressing.
    Delyn

    Reply

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